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MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 7, 2023
REGULAR MEETING OF THE SAN GABRIEL CITY COUNCIL
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Ding called the regular meeting of the San Gabriel City Council to order at 6:33 P.M. on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 425 South Mission Drive, San Gabriel, California, 91776.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Vice Mayor Harrington.
ROLL CALL
Council Members Present:
Council Members Absent:
Staff Members Present:
CLOSED SESSION REPORT
Eric Chan, Denise Menchaca (by telephone), John Wu,
Vice Mayor John R. Harrington, and Mayor Tony Ding.
None.
City Manager Mark Lazzaretto, City Attorney Keith
Lemieux, Chief City Clerk Sharon Clark, Public Works
Director/City Engineer Greg de Vinck, Fire Chief Steven Wallace, Human Resources/Risk Management Director
Edward Macias, Finance Director William Kaholokula,
Community Development Director Aldo Cervantes,
Acting Police Chief Rikimaru Nakamura, and Assistant
City Clerk Marilyn Bonus.
Special City Council Meeting of January 26, 2023:
A. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - POTENTIAL THREAT TO PUBLIC FACILITIES (GOVERNMENT CODE§ 54957)
Consultation with Police Chief and Fire Chief
City Attorney Lemieux announced that there was no reportable action.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chief City Clerk Clark provided information for the public on how to view the meeting and how to request meeting agendas.
1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA ORDER
Hearing no objection, Mayor Ding announced that the Agenda Order was approved.
2. PRESENTATIONS
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A. BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Mayor Ding made the presentation.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT
Chasity Jennings-Nunez, resident and Human Equity, Access and Relations (HEAR) Commission Chair, provided comments expressing appreciation for the City's recognition of Black History Month.
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
A motion was made by Council Member Wu, seconded by Vice Mayor Harrington, to approve Consent Calendar Items 4A - 4C as presented.
Motion carried by a roll-call vote of 5-0 as follows:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
CHAN, MENCHACA, WU, HARRINGTON, DING
NONE
NONE
NONE
A. RESOLUTION NO. 23-08 REAUTHORIZING THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE
CITY'S COMMISSIONS TO IMPLEMENT TELECONFERENCE ACCCESSIBILITV FOR CONDUCTING PUBLIC MEETINGS PURSUANT TO ASSEMBLY BILL 361 The City Council adopted Resolution No. 23-08 regarding the use of teleconferencing for public meetings.
B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The City Council approved the following:
1. Minutes of the City Council Special Meeting of January 11, 2023.
2. Minutes of the City Council Special Meeting of January 17, 2023.
3. Minutes of the City Council Regular Meeting of January 17, 2023.
4. Minutes of the City Council Special Meeting of January 26, 2023.
C. MATERIAL DEMANDS
The City Council approved January 12, 2023, and January 20, 2023, Registers of Demands and Warrants for the payment of City expenditures.
5. PUBLIC HEARING - None.
6. CONTINUED BUSINESS - None.
7. NEW BUSINESS
A. PRESENTATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE
FINANCIAL REPORT AND OTHER AUDIT REPORTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2022
Assistant Finance Director Linda Tang made the presentation and introduced Manager Terry Robertson of Moss Levy & Hartzheim, LLP, who provided additional details about the audit.
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Clarifying discussion included the difference between a full audit and a single audit; timeframe for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) liability decreases on the report, due to the elimination of employee lifetime medical for new hires; previous City Council direction for staff to work with a financial consultant and bring pension liability information back to Council when it makes financial sense to do so· I
actuarial assumptions changing year to year; market changes may negatively affect report for next year; lag in actuarial reporting and desire to have five to seven years' data in future reports; and details of the Public Works loan, including a planned full presentation to the City Council in March 2023.
There was no public comment.
A motion was made by Council Member Menchaca, seconded by Council Member Wu, to receive and file the annual audit reports for fiscal year ended June 30, 2022.
Motion carried by a roll-call vote of 5-0 as follows:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
CHAN, MENCHACA, WU, HARRINGTON, DING
NONE
NONE
NONE
B. DISCUSSION REGARDING TRANSLATION OF AGENDAS AND HEARING
NOTICES FOR DESIGN REVIEW COMMISSION, PLANNING COMMISSION,
AND THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
COMMISSION
Community Development Director Cervantes made the presentation.
Clarifying discussion included the fiscal impact for allowing case-by-case requests for translated agendas and notices.
Dr. Jennings-Nunez, Human Equity, Access and Relations (HEAR) Commission Chair, provided comments requesting that translation be provided for all Commission and City Council agendas and requesting a marketing campaign to inform residents of this detail.
Discussion included how the process of translating City Council and HEAR Commission agendas began; no other cities in the San Gabriel Valley provide full translation of agendas; better ways to communicate than translation of agendas, which is not working; requesting HEAR Commission input on ideas for community engagement; social media engagement; multi-lingual interface on the City's website; passing on translation cost to developers for notices; plans to use Google Translate on the City's website rather than multi-lingual webpages as the cost would be prohibitive to translate webpages every time the website is updated; notices need to go out in multiple languages, but not necessarily agendas; agreement with adding multi-lingual verbiage to agendas and notices to allow requests for translation; consideration of staff time for translation assistance; and researching grants to assist with translation services.
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Harrington, seconded by Council Member Menchaca, to direct staff to maintain the current process and to amend Design Review Commission, Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation and Cultural Resources Commission agendas and notices to include translated instructions that allow the reader the opportunity to request either the agenda or notice translated.
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Motion carried by a roll-call vote of 5-0 as follows:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
CHAN, MENCHACA, WU, HARRINGTON, DING
NONE
NONE
NONE
C. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE STREET NAME CHANGE GUIDELINES Community Development Director Cervantes made the presentation.
Clarifying discussion included that there is no appeal process because the City Council is the only decision-making body involved; determination of how many years are required to be a legacy business; and resident/business/assessed property owner approval percentage requirements and process to be defined in the policy.
There was no public comment.
Discussion included a desire for input from the Human Equity, Access and Relations (HEAR), Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource (HPCR), and Planning Commissions, how the fee would be determined, fee waiver if the application is submitted by a Commission; notification process to the public and community stakeholders; the HPCR Commission to recommend the definition of a legacy business; keeping the process to a three-month timeline; streamlining the Commission-input process; and not requiring applicants to present to Commissions.
There was a consensus of the City Council to direct staff to incorporate City Council input and bring back draft guidelines for City Council consideration.
8. PUBLIC COMMENT - None.
9. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT - None.
10. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND CONFERENCE/MEETING REPORTS
Council Member Wu reported that he and Mayor Ding had attended the City's Lunar New Year festival and received very positive feedback, thanked Police Chief Nakamoto and Fire Chief Wallace and staff for their work on the event, and provided suggestions for next year's festival.
Council Member Chan reported on his attendance at two candlelight vigils for Monterey Park victims; reported on the Independent Cities Association (ICA) conference; and stated he had completed required sexual harassment training.
Council Member Menchaca announced an art exhibit in honor of Black History Month, located upstairs at the Blossom Market and sponsored by Dr. Chasity Jennings-Nunez; reported on her attendance at two vigils for the Monterey Park victims; reported on Monterey Park incident survivor, retired San Gabriel Police Department Lieutenant Jim Goodman, who was injured while shielding another, and announced a GoFundMe opportunity to aid him entitled, "Monterey Park Mass Shooting Hero Jim Goodman."
Vice Mayor Harrington expressed regret that he had not been able to attend the City's Lunar New Year event as he was attending the ICA conference; reported on CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 5 February 7, 2023 I
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the ICA conference, announced that he will be presenting a panel for the ICA summer session during which he plans to highlight San Gabriel innovations; and detailed some ideas for format changes for the conference.
Mayor Ding commented on the value of ICA conferences, reported on his attendance at the City's Lunar New Year event and the good feedback received, thanked Police, Fire, Public Works, and Community Services Departments and the City's vendor who managed the event for their work making the event a success, and thanked legislators and council members from other cities who attended; reported on his attendance at vigils for the Monterey Park victims; reported on his attendance at a mayors' round -table discussion in Temple City; and suggested a collaborative information-sharing approach to crime-fighting among local cities.
11. CLOSED SESSION - None.
12. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:44 P.M. in memory of the eleven Monterey Park mass-casualty event victims.
Respectfully submitted:
Approved this 2,st day of February, 2022:
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